Bizness Business

So I have officially joined TheGreenPaigePhotography. I'm the second shooter and general assistant to my talented wife. We're doing an engagement session on the 28th of this month and we're feeling a little nervous, but that's good; it should keep us on track and taking careful shots. It's very exciting and we are grateful to the lovely couple, Parker and Sarah. It should be tons of fun! YAY!!!

Good Blood

So I went to the Red Cross donation center in Fullerton to give blood.  They call me every 2 months to get in there and I haven't been in for a while because I was busy with my finals the last time they tried to get me to come in.  This time when I got there, they asked if I could donate plasma and platelets instead.  I said I would (you get to watch a movie on your own personal tv while you donate) and they checked me in an got me going.  I got about halfway through Superman Returns when they told me I was almost done and asked if I was feeling okay.  My lips were kind of tingly and my fingers were cold, so they gave me TUMS to replenish my blood calcium levels.  When I was finished, the nurse was looking at a sample of my plasma/platelets in a plastic pouch.  She asked me if I take vitamins every day. I don't. She asked if I'm a runner. I'm not (I always walk fast, but I don't run often). She asked if I exercise a lot.  I don't really.  She said she was asking because my plasma was really healthy.  It just looked like yellowish liquid to me, but it made me happy inside to know that I have healthy blood. YAY! :-)

Sundays off!!!

I know it's been forever since I posted, but I haven't heard too many complaints, so I don't think anyone cares too much. :)

I've been working a lot to try to save up money for school.  I took a position that required me to work on Sunday.  I wish I hadn't done it, but I did and it was really dragging me down.  It seemed like the only thing I could do. I needed the money and I needed to take what was offered.  A few weeks ago I told them I didn't want to work on Sundays anymore and I got my wish. They found another guy to take over my Sunday shifts, so i finally got to do the normal Sunday things.  I actually did some home teaching.  I think it's been at least a year since I've done it.  I know, I know . . . and I am ashamed of myself.  So anyway, it was a good experience.  The guy we visited was in more need of it than I was.  Oscar had served a mission years ago and then fallen away from the church.  As soon as he invited us in and to sit down, he began to spill out his story to tell us about his problems.  When he finally finished, I suggested he talk to Bishop Christensen.  He said he wouldn't know what to say to him, so I asked him if we could pass on his number and he said we could.  It feels good to know that I've played even a small part helping out a brother.  Home teaching really is a blessing (and so is having Sundays off).

Oops!

I missed June completely.

So it goes...

My membership at 24hour Fitness is slowly paying it's dividends. I've gained about 8 pounds. I feel better after I work out too (well not right after, but about an hour later and then on through the next day). I've finished all of my classes at Fullerton (with A's this last semester), and I'll be heading to CSUF in the fall if all goes the way it should. Yay!!!

Fitness...24 hours a day

It's true. I have joined 24 hour fitness. Paige joined first as it was less expensive per month than weight-watchers. I went in with her once and they gave me a 10 day guest pass. Just walking around in there the firs day was really intimidating.
I've been a member at the Brea City gym before, but the people there were not nearly as huge and buff, not nearly as dedicated (or obsessed, depending on how you want to look at it), and it was never as full of these people that were everywhere I looked when I was taking the tour. However, it is a 24 hour fitness "sport" club so on the tour I got to see the lap pool, excercise pool, jacuzzi, sauna, weight room, excercise machines, and rows of treadmills, bikes, ellipticals, stairmasters, and excercise classes. The thing that sets this gym apart most I think is the lap pool.
I used to swim in high school as part of the diving team and I really liked it. It helped me look bigger (I probably was bigger, actually). It has obviously been a really long time though because where I used to swim 400 meters as a warm-up, that was all I could do and my whole body was spent. I wouldn't have made it out of the pool if it weren't only 4 feet deep on one end. But I'm hoping I'll soon be back to where I was. It's probably the first time in my life that I've really been able to say, "I'm really out of shape." I don't think that previously I had been able to look back to a younger time in my life when I could've out-performed my present-day self; but now I can. I'm sure I'll have a lot of that ahead of me as the years and the kids take over. Oh well, c'est la vie.

Fullerton Jazz Combo

I don't know why people don't know what a jazz combo is when I tell them I'm in one. Is it that when people hear "jazz" they think jazz dance? Or is it the word "combo" that throws people off? I hope it's that one because jazz is the music that was born in the U.S. and it would be pretty sad if people didn't know what it was; just a sign of the cultural intelligence of people these days, i guess. Recently I've told several people (maybe 5 or 6), when they ask me what I'm doing in school, that one of my classes is a jazz combo, and they (every time) look at me kind of confused and say, "So, what do you ... what's that?" I'm thinking..."Really?!" It's a group that plays jazz people!

So anyway, today we have our first performance of the semester. We're playing at Fullerton in front of the Library I think. I just know I have to show up there around 10:30 and we perform at 11. It should be lots of fun, if I can just get over my nerves.